Local history of people, places & things in NC Foothills

Bud Houser has been doing HOUSER research, mostly in Lincoln County area, for many years. He shared several articles with me tht I included in my first genealogy blog and I have reposted it here.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14, 2006
Peter Houser by Bud Houser
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PETER HOUSER, SR.
Peter Houser, third child of John Houser and Mary E. Wehrly was born about 1751 in North Corodus Twp. York Co. Pennsylvania. He was about twelve years old when his father died in 1763. But, Peter and his older brother John (about seventeen years old) shared their father’s estate. Their sisters, Elizabeth and Juliana, and their young brothers, Henry, Jacob and George, did not share in the estate. Despite their adolescence, John and Peter took the lead in working their land and helping support their mother and brothers and sisters. They received help from their father’s brother, Jacob, who lived nearby. As they grew to manhood, John was interested in farming, but Peter developed skills as a blacksmith and practiced that trade during his life. Peter and John served in the Revolutionary War. They were Lutheran. Peter married Eva Maria Catherine Dhome in York Co. Pennsylvania about 1776. She was the daughter of Benedict and Veronika Dhome and was christened on 20 Jul 1760 in York Co.

Mary E. Wehrly, their mother, died about 1780, when Peter was about 29 years old. He remained in York Co. for another 15 Years, but he began to hear glowing reports of Lincoln Co. North Carolina from his brother, Henry, who had obtained a land grant there in 1784. Finally, in 1795, when Peter was about 44 years old, he and his brother, John, moved to Lincoln Co. Peter lived there for the remaining fifty years of his life. He is believed to have died about 1846, aged 95 and some say that he was “insane” at the time of his death. However, he did not die intestate. His will was probated in March 1846. But, he named only one of his daughters, Elizabeth and her husband, Peter Reep.

Peter Houser is believed to have had several other children, possibly as many as eight. But identification of all the children is difficult and uncertain. Several researchers, as well as the author of this article, have agreed on six, and there are two others with a more tenuous claim. The six accepted siblings have been prolific and their progeny quickly scattered throughout the south and the west. There have been various efforts to pull this “dynasty” together. The “granddaddy” of
Houser family reunions is held annually at the Bethpage Lutheran Church in Lincolnton, North Carolina, appealing largely to descendants of Peter Houser:

Peter Houser Will. Lincoln Co. North Carolina, March Session 1846. Will Book 2, Page 246 In the name of God amen. I Peter Houser, Sr. in the Co. of Lincoln and State of North Carolina being of sound mind and memory do think this the 10 day of May the AD 1839 fit to make and ordain this my last will and testament made in the manner and form as following that is to say first I give and bequeath to my son-in-law Peter Reep and his wife and Elizabeth Reep and Dicey Reep all my land of which they shall find me and my wife sufficient and comfortable meat and drink and clothing during
our natural life and that we to have free privilege in the house where we now live in and that they are to pay one hundred dollars out of the land and of his sons and daughters : to be divided among them equal only his son Peter is to have only (2) two dollars and half. Signed sealed published and declared by the said Peter Houser in presence who were present at the time of signing and sealing thereof
George Coon Jurat
Peter Houser (Seal) Joseph Houser Jurat